


tangled up in you

by baetokkis



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, One Night Stands, Smut, bartender seulgi, helpless bisexual mess joohyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27643357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baetokkis/pseuds/baetokkis
Summary: Joohyun recently broke up with her long-time partner, so she goes to this club downtown to blow off some steam. Her distraction comes in the form of a beautiful brunette, with gorgeous full red lips and fox eyes, who happens to bartend there and has a terrible inclination to bad jokes. She tries not to think too much about that night. It was a one-night stand, and that’s all it should remain as.But when she moves to a new apartment across town about a month later, she finds out not all things happen as planned, and that includes the fact that her cat seems to have taken quite a liking towards her new neighbor.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 242





	tangled up in you

**Author's Note:**

> lost my mind for a moment and wrote 19k sorry about that. this is lighter (?) than my other works and it's my first time trying that so... hope it's not awkward 
> 
> also, i'm dedicating this one to thai @aseulbar who doesn't let me give up when i think about not writing anymore. love u so much!!
> 
> anyways, enjoy! and hit me up on twt if u want @tinyrene :)

See, Joohyun refuses to be held fully accountable for this. In her defense, she had no intention to leave her apartment that evening.

She had told her friends more than once that there was nothing to worry about, she was  _ fine. _ And it was true – despite the red-rimmed eyes and the dark bags underneath them, she was totally okay. Break-ups happen. They’re normal and inevitable and she most certainly should not be feeling so down for the end of such a fucked up relationship.

But then, night had fallen and her bed suddenly felt so  _ empty  _ and  _ cold _ , and she just wanted something to take her mind off.  _ Anything.  _ And so Joohyun remembered one of her friends, Seungwan, telling her there was a new club close by her place.

That’s how she ended up here, somewhere downtown, with a row of empty shots in front of her. It’s pathetic, she admits, but she spent this whole week reviewing business deals and boring contracts, on top of having to deal with all the crap her shitty ex-boyfriend left at her place, so she deserves this. The least she could give herself was a night off.

The club itself wasn’t crowded, but she struggled to find an empty barstool either way, so she resigned to just stay there until she was drunk enough and decided to go home. Seungwan’s suggestion to go there and look for a casual fling was now long forgotten, and all Joohyun could think of was how long would it take for all that alcohol to finally kick in. 

So when a tall, blonde woman with big round eyes and dark red lips came to sit by her side, eagerly staring at her exposed collarbones, all Joohyun could do was say, with an exhausted roll of eyes because she had done so many times that night, “No, I don’t want a drink. And I’m not interested in dancing with you or giving you my number, so please…” She made a  _ shoo  _ sign with her hand, to which the woman dutifully followed after muttering a low ‘asshole’. 

And yeah, the name calling didn’t bother her. That’s what she was, anyway. A big fucking asshole.

She should have worn a hoodie and pulled the hood over her head, covered her mouth with a mask – perhaps it could pass as a look. Rappers in underground clubs did that all the time, maybe she could too. It would be so much easier that way. If no one saw her face then no one would want to hit on her.

Her only intention that night was to drink that stupid nagging feeling at her heart away, but apparently, wearing a bodycon black dress to a place like this was the same as yelling ‘I want to sleep with you’.

“I'm not trying to offend you, I swear, but this place doesn't look like your scene,” someone says next to her, close enough that their voice isn’t muffled by the loud music blasting through the club. 

Joohyun raises her eyes, ready to scream that she’s not interested if she needs to, but when her eyes finally land on the source of the voice, she feels her breath stutter, surprised to see that perhaps this person is not interested either. 

“It usually isn’t,” she replies, biting her lower lip as she sees the bartender hum thoughtfully. “I just came for the drinks.”

And Joohyun is definitely doomed because,  _ fuck, _ this woman is hot – brown hair in a loose bun with curly flyaways, smooth tan skinned with beautiful full lips, dark fox-eyes and high cheek bones. She seems tall, although Joohyun cannot say for sure, and she looks even more handsome behind the poorly lit bar.

“Then you came to the right place.” The woman proudly smiles. She then turns around, grabs two bottles from one of the shelves. “In that case, I’m glad to help. Let me make you something to take your mind off for a while. It’s on the house.”

She lifts the two bottles, raising her left eyebrow suggestively. And Joohyun doesn’t know how, or why, but this woman – despite the sexy white button-up shirt, with two of its buttons popped open, and the black suspenders in tight black slacks – looks like a complete dork as she offers to make yet another drink for her, so Joohyun dumbly nods, like the scattered-brained bisexual mess that she is. 

The bartender lightens up at that, and gleefully pours the two liquors into a shaker to start preparing it.

In the end, she gives Joohyun what seems to be some whiskey cocktail, to which Joohyun drinks greedily, noticing how the woman’s eyes are eagerly fitting over her face for a reaction.

“Fuck, this is so good,” Joohyun drags the last word, and that seems to do it for the bartender, because she’s all smiles when she looks up to meet her eyes again.

And sure, Joohyun is still a bisexual mess and she has maybe just met the hottest woman she’s ever seen, but she’s not lying, so she takes a larger sip this time. The bartender seems pleased. 

“So, hm…” she starts, sounding unsure for some unknown reason, and leans forward just a bit.

That area is no longer crowded since it was starting to get late and its acoustics seemed to be thought out by an architect because the mind-crunching music doesn’t penetrate the bar all that much, so Joohyun could hear her well nevertheless. But of course, she does not say it out loud. She would take any level of proximity this goddess of a woman decided to offer. 

“You really don’t like being hit on, huh?”

“I’m impressed that people bother,” Joohyun replies, because it’d been a shitty couple of weeks and she does not owe anyone an explanation, even though said explanation is to a gorgeous bartender like the one in front of her. “Do I look interested in having casual sex tonight?”

The bartender giggles, looking taken aback by how straight-forward she is, and shakes her head. 

“Nah, you seem really fine on your own.”

It sounds flirty, but Joohyun can’t find it in herself to mind, mostly because not even the woman sounds aware of it. She thinks she should probably say something, maybe flirt back just for the sake of it, but Joohyun doesn’t get the chance to – someone’s already poking the bartender’s shoulders before she can think of anything to say.

“Hey, Seulgi! I need to get some things inside, can you take care of my side of the bar for a bit?” 

“Yeah, sure,” she complies, nodding to the other bartender who vanishes through a small door at the back. Seulgi, Joohyun learns, beams adorably at her and promises, “I’ll be back in a sec.”

And then she leaves. Joohyun misses her instantly.

Yeah, it’s pathetic, but she’s sensitive and needy and Seulgi, with her easy-going smiles and giddiness, felt like her last beacon of hope in this crimson-lit nightclub. But the cocktail serves its job right, quelling the disgusting loneliness in her chest sip by sip, so she drinks a little more. 

It’s not long until Seulgi returns from attending another patron. There’s a twitch at the corner of her mouth, an indication that she’s holding back a laugh and Joohyun suddenly wants nothing more than to know what it is.

“Wow, you’ll never believe what just happened,” the brunette says, eyes comically wide as she stares at Joohyun.

“What?” she decides to indulge her, and not because she’s curious, but maybe because she’s finally getting a little drunk and Seulgi looks somewhat cute with all that excitement splashed across her face.

“An oxymoron just walked into the bar.” Seulgi huffs an exaggerated puff of air, apparently doing her best to sound annoyed. “The sound was deafening.”

Maybe it’s because of the drinks she just had, maybe because she wasn’t expecting a joke or because she had no reason to laugh for a few weeks now, but Joohyun finds herself  _ cackling _ despite herself. She covers her mouth with a hand, shaking her head like she’s just heard the funniest thing ever.

“Oh, there was also this guy who walked into the bar and asked for 10 shots of our finest vodka. So I was like, sure, I can do that, so I set it up for him. But the dude just took the first and last shots of the row and threw it out, can you believe that?” Seulgi goes on, and she looks so offended that Joohyun scoots a bit forward in the barstool counter to have a better look at her. “Do you know what he told me when I asked why?”

“No, what?”

“He said, ‘well, the first shot always tastes awful and the last one always makes me sick!’”

It should be embarrassing how loud Joohyun laughs at that, but she can’t bring herself to care, not when the bartender seems so damn happy with herself. 

“You don’t seem drunk enough to be laughing this hard,” Seulgi says after a beat, amused.

“I can hold my alcohol pretty well,” Joohyun counters back, laughter dying slowly, cheeky. Tilting her head to the side, she asks, “Are you always this much of a comedian?” 

Seulgi shakes her head, grabbing a towel to wipe her end of the counter. Her eyes hold a soft kind of glow. It’s not one of pity, Joohyun has gotten used to those by now after everything that went down, but it’s definitely new and intriguing. 

“No, not really. You just seemed like you could use a laugh.” 

And that does it for Joohyun. She’s charmed. She doesn’t want Seulgi to leave her side again because yeah, she’s lonely and this stranger’s company is the closest thing to joy she has felt in weeks.

“I did,” Joohyun admits, hesitantly. 

“Then I’m glad to be of service.”

Joohyun feels her mood drop all of a sudden once she realizes she’s licking up the last drops of her drink, feels even more reluctant to turn down Seulgi’s upbeat grin as she takes the empty glass away and asks if Joohyun wants some more.

It’s almost 1 a.m., the bar is practically empty by now, and yet she’s still sober. Although there’s a light blur to the corners of her eyes, Joohyun is painfully aware of her surroundings, of the reason she came here in the first place. 

“I think I’ve had enough.” She looks around, unenthusiastic, only to find out there’s not many people in the club either, not just at the bar. She stands up from the barstool, slides the money across the bartop without even bothering to check if she gave more than necessary. Seulgi deserves the tip anyway. “Thank you. For the drink and… the jokes too.”

“It was nothing.” The bartender waves her off dismissively. “Come back anytime, Miss…”

There’s a slight rise to her intonation, almost unnoticeable, as if she’s letting Joohyun decide whether to say her name or not. And Joohyun’s still a bisexual disaster, so when Seulgi’s eyes pull her in so badly to the point she almost forgets not to give this beautiful, sexy and cute bartender her real name.

She manages just in time, muttering a quiet, “Just Irene.”

“It was nice to meet you, Irene,” Seulgi says, gentle. “I’m Seulgi, obviously.”

“Likewise, Seulgi.”

Seulgi nods and turns around to finish things behind the bar. Joohyun watches her for a few seconds, and when she’s sure Seulgi’s not turning back anymore, she walks away.

.

Joohyun doesn’t call a cab just yet. She ends up in the bathroom, staring at her reflection with squinted eyes. 

Maybe she should’ve gotten some, after all. Her bed will still be empty and cold when she gets home and she’ll still be terribly alone after that. The least she could have done tonight was relieved some of that tension with a complete stranger only to forget it ever happened on the next day. 

But no, she’ll go home, still sober, and still single. Yeah, she’s fucking pissed at herself.

Except, when she finally steps out of the bathroom, Seulgi’s leaned up against the opposite wall, head hung low and eyes focused on the floor. She’s not as tall as Joohyun thought she was from behind the bar and the realization disappoints her a bit, but even so, Seulgi remains taller than her. 

The bartender lifts her head at the sound of the bathroom door opening and her eyes easily find their way towards Joohyun’s. 

Joohyun does her best not to take the fact that she’s there as a sign.

“Oh… hi,” Seulgi says. Her voice is calm and deep, and  _ something  _ shakes inside of Joohyun. Did Seulgi’s voice sound like that the whole time? “It was my time to call it a night, too.”

It’s darker in this hallway, and quieter than the rest of the club had ever been even while it was empty. For some reason, this moment feels dangerous with the way Seulgi is watching her like she’s deciding something.

Joohyun finds out that Seulgi is even more attractive like this. She’s still wearing the same outfit, but her hair is loose, falling on her shoulders in waves, and the way that the shadows here in the hall adorn her face make her look even more attractive.

Joohyun feels her guts tighten a little. Well, shit. This is not a good sign.

“Are you going home?” she asks, not entirely sure why.

(A part of her thinks it’s because she wants to hear Seulgi’s deep voice one more time, the other one knows exactly where this is going.)

“Maybe,” it’s all the bartender answers, her flirty tone back. Okay, so Seulgi was definitely flirting with her back there at the bar, Joohyun decides. “Why?” 

They hover around each other, yet neither of them dares to make a move. It’s tentative enough to make Joohyun wonder if Seulgi is going to do something drastic like suddenly step closer and kiss her, maybe press Joohyun’s body against the dark brick wall behind her and hike up her dress. She wonders if Seulgi would want to take her right there, in this empty hallway, where everyone passing by could see. 

Joohyun is not entirely sure what she would do – would she push her away immediately, or clench her fingers in her suspenders and pull her in like she wants to?

A dark part of Joohyun wants nothing more than Seulgi to just throw all worries away, and do exactly that.

But hesitation is all over Seulgi’s face.

“Tell me I did not read the signs wrong,” Seulgi says, stepping close. Joohyun backs up a bit, her shoulder blades almost hitting the wall.

“You didn’t,” Joohyun whispers, out of breath.

“You sure?” Seulgi asks and there’s nothing predatory about the way Seulgi’s eyes rake over her form. It’s an earnest, open, concerned look, and just like that the throb of attraction between her legs calls out to Seulgi. 

Seulgi’s leaning close – too close now – and, crap, Joohyun is going to kiss her. She knows it’s inevitable. She’s going to kiss this stranger here in the bathroom hallway of this nightclub. There’s not enough resistance left in her not to do it.

But Seulgi doesn’t move further. Just stands there, hovering near Joohyun and regarding her with intent eyes.

The way Seulgi is giving full control whether to take this to the next step is what propels Joohyun forward.

Her fingers grip at the fabric over Seulgi’s chest and she tugs her forward until their lips are crashing together.

It feels staggeringly good to just give into it. Seulgi responds immediately, melts apart as soon as their bodies touch and she walks them towards the side until Joohyun’s back hits the wall and she lets out a noise into the kiss.

“Seulgi?” The bartender hums, doesn’t break the kiss, and Joohyun sighs in her mouth as she asks, “Take me home tonight.”

.

They don’t go to Seulgi’s place. Not Joohyun’s either. Instead, they choose a nearby hotel and sloppily make their way to the elevator as soon as Joohyun pays for the suite. 

“You’re so fucking pretty,” Joohyun breathes against her mouth as they stumble into the hotel’s bedroom, gasping when she closes the door and Seulgi immediately pins her against it.

Seulgi’s hands take hold of Joohyun’s head, fingers twisting through the loose hair there and keeping their faces together. Joohyun feels overwhelmed by sensation in a way that makes her fingers grip tighter at the fabric of Seulgi’s button-up and her hips move forward with intent.

“Do you still want this?” Seulgi asks, tucking a hair strand behind Joohyun’s ear, who can’t help but whimper in contempt at the sweet gesture.

“God, yes,” she whispers, voice cracking at the end as she takes Seulgi’s hands away from her face, guiding them to the inside of her thighs and to say she’s pleased with the noise that leaves Seulgi's lips once she touches her almost there, yet not close enough, is an understatement.

But then, before she can fully enjoy the feeling, Seulgi stills her movements and a crinkle in her forehead makes Joohyun stare at her confused.

“I don’t usually do this,” is all she says, obviously embarrassed, and her eyes grow just a little softer, her touch a little hesitant.

How can she go from incredibly sexy and hot to adorable and cute, Joohyun doesn’t know, but she appreciates the honesty. And just like that it’s not just her arousal who seems to be calling out for Seulgi. Her heart flutters at the worry that flashes through her eyes.

“Me neither,” she mutters into Seulgi’s mouth and that seems to be all the brunette needs to lean down to capture Joohyun’s lips again, leaving her breathless once more.

Joohyun’s fingers slide through her hair, finding a firm hold, and Seulgi takes the moment to lift her up by the thighs and drop her on the bed. Seulgi quickly finds her place in between her legs, noses brushing harshly as they kiss like they don’t know what oxygen means, growing daring at every passing second. 

Joohyun is too far gone to get Seulgi full-on naked, so she does her best to at least remove her shirt, but there are just  _ so many _ fucking buttons.

Seulgi pulls back, stands in the bed on her knees, doesn’t move away from her place in the middle of Joohyun’s thighs as she starts to undo her buttons. Too slow for Joohyun’s liking, but so fucking hot she doesn’t feel like complaining.

Joohyun feels the pulsation between her legs intensify, her mouth water at the sight, and coming closer, she says, “Here, let me help,” not waiting for Seulgi to reply before she starts undoing her pants button and pulling it down.

Seulgi finishes removing her own pants, and goes straight to Joohyun’s zipper, pushing the dress down enough for her to latch her mouth on Joohyun’s breast over her lacy bra, licking and sucking through the material at the hard nipple underneath. 

Joohyun squirms under her, pulling Seulgi’s hair a little too hard and causing a whimper of pain out of her. Instead of complaining, though, Seulgi seems to sense Joohyun’s hesitation and moves her other hand to her own hair, pressing Joohyun’s hand on her scalp as if saying she can do it again. And so she does, ripping out the most beautiful moan Seulgi let out yet.

Joohyun's hands drift down out of Seulgi’s hair, come to the sides of her face and pull her up until they’re kissing again. Joohyun opens her mouth, her tongue licking at Seulgi’s bottom lip, who tastes sweet with a fruity flavor she can’t identify. She doesn’t have much time to think about it, Seulgi pushes herself off to adjust before she can.

Taking the opportunity to take a deep breath before Seulgi insistently molds herself against the lines of her body again, she hoists her dress up on her thighs.

“Let me take these off,” Seulgi murmurs, hand hanging around the hem of her underwear and yet not making any move to do that at all. 

Joohyun only lets out this little noise, between a moan and a groan, pulling Seulgi roughly by the neck.

“Shit…” she says against her lips, lightheaded. “Just fuck me already.”

A chuckle drags out of Seulgi’s lips, but it’s hot and warm against Joohyun’s ear and there’s no hint of actual humor behind it. “Such a potty mouth. I wonder how much nastier you could get.”

“As much as you’d like,” Joohyun whispers, slightly out of it, and Seulgi’s hand find its way to the subtle curve of her ass, the other coming between her open thighs and resting on top of her damp underwear with no sign of moving any time sooner.

Joohyun’s legs part a little more and that's apparently enough of invitation because Seulgi’s eyes darken, cheeks flush, and before she realizes, her panties are off and Seulgi’s index finger fucks into Joohyun slowly, making her mouth fall open and a little whimper hang in the air.

Joohyun’s hips jerk forward as she demands, “Go hard. Make it fast and make it fucking hard.”

And Seulgi does – she adds a second finger and fucks her knuckle deep, Joohyun’s nails pressing into the flesh of her back to the point it burns.

Joohyun is barely even aware of it when she uses her other hand to press the pads of her fingers up and down the brunette’s stomach, the ripples of her abs flexing underneath her touch. Then they go a little lower, sneaking her hand inside until she touches Seulgi’s sex over her panties and she feels just how wet the woman is, making her whine and let out a breathy moan. 

Seulgi doesn’t fall behind Joohyun though, slams her fingers inside her as if motivated to go harder from the sudden touch.

It’s definitely not the most comfortable position to do that – not while Seulgi still has her fingers deep inside of her – but Joohyun makes up for it, finding Seulgi’s clit with her middle and ring finger and starts to easily stroke in time with Seulgi’s thrust, and that earns her a second, slightly louder, more drawn out moan. 

“Irene...” Seulgi tries to say, but Joohyun moves her fingers faster and she has to rest her forehead on Joohyun’s shoulder to continue what she was doing.

“Fuck, Seulgi, I’m so –” Joohyun gasps, the tone of her voice balanced between pleading, appreciative, and she’s so close she's not quite sure what it is that Seulgi does to finally push her over the edge, but her voice becomes much more high-pitched than it was, her hips jerk forward unconsciously for a long moment before the tension slips away slowly.

She struggles to keep stroking Seulgi’s clit while she comes down from her own high, and Joohyun not only feels her pulsating against her fingertips, but hear the breathy sounds she makes, as if trying to keep quiet, whining something Joohyun cannot understand through her mental haze, until all she hears is a deep, satisfied sigh.

It's unidentifiable in the moment, but it's also fucking hot, and Joohyun wants more of it, but she can’t. She shouldn’t.

Joohyun can still feel both of them just staying there for a while, breathing heavily after coming from their high, eyes still apart from each other.

Seulgi is the first one to look up, searching for Joohyun’s eyes as soon as hers find focus. She tilts the raven’s head down a bit, bottom lip being pressed between her teeth before she croaks, “God, you’re beautiful.”

And Joohyun is not sure if it’s because of the mind-blowing orgasm she just had since she definitely needed it, but she leans in before dwelling in what it means, presses Seulgi’s lips against her own without any promises and it's pretty fucking wonderful.

.

The next morning, Joohyun wakes up alone on her own bed, not entirely sure of how she got home in the first place, but with a lot of other hazy memories that are proven true by the delicious ache between her legs. 

She feels more than she sees further physical proof of what happened when she moves on the bed, her body twinging at specific parts as a reminder and she’s sure there are bruises all over her back, thighs, hips. Some are from Seulgi’s love bites, some from her hands grasping Joohyun a little bit too hard, just like the way she demanded.

And it’s terrible, because despite going at it almost the whole night – and maybe a little in the morning, too – Joohyun still wants  _ more.  _

But she can’t, and she won’t. So Joohyun groans, gets up against her will, because really, what else is there to do?

.

It wasn’t an outstanding change in her life. Or at least, it wasn’t supposed to be, but Joohyun expected her life to take a giant turn after that night either way. 

But her routine is still the same, work is as boring as it could get. And it’s funny, really, that even after all the effort she put in to forget that asshole she called a boyfriend, practically anything reminded Joohyun of how she lost three years of her life to someone who didn’t deserve half of it. She had wasted her time, worked through all the problems they faced together for something that, suddenly, was just gone. 

Maybe the worst part, though, is that she finally gathered enough courage to call her parents and inform them of the break-up a couple of days ago. 

“You’re meant to be together,” her mother had said when Joohyun introduced Donghyun to her. Her  _ mother, _ who never approved anyone she dated, and then Joohyun had to call her three years later, exhausted, “It’s over.”

Pathetic.

It wasn’t even a dramatic ending. She had simply stared at him, and waited for him to stare back to say, “This isn't going anywhere. You should move out.”

Out with a whimper instead of a bang. What an underwhelming break-up – three whole years down the drain. Yet it feels like she’s missing something, like she should be feeling  _ more.  _ This annoying discomfort is the only thing that pierces the haze inflicted by her monotonous routine.

“Do you think I’m broken, little guy?” Joohyun asks one day, reaching out to scratch the space between her cat’s ears. Leo meows, pushing his head against her hand. “You don’t care, do you?”

Leo blinks up at her, and Joohyun sighs.

“To you I’m just the human who feeds you, aren’t I? And here I thought we had something special.” She scratches his chin and the cat purrs loudly, rubbing his face on her chest.

He doesn’t answer, of course he doesn’t, but for a moment, Joohyun wishes he did. And it dawns on her how pathetic this whole scene is, only now realizing how lonely she feels to the point of wishing her cat could tell her if there’s something wrong with her.

But it’s three in the morning and she’s talking to a fucking cat. So yeah, maybe she is broken after all.

.

Joohyun decides she’s had enough not many weeks later, when she’s coming back from work and she sees a real state outdoor sign in front of her house. It triggers something inside of her, something desperate that clings at her throat as if begging to be set free, and of course, she relents.

She starts with a Google search of apartments for sale in Seoul, filters her searches to  _ two bedrooms _ — just in case, since she’s now pathetically single — and after a dizzying stream of results and three whole nights of lost sleep, Joohyun thinks she’s found the ideal place. 

It’s exactly three weeks and a day later, when Joohyun finally brings the last of all the boxes to her new apartment that she feels like she can have the fresh start she deserves. It’s an over-dramatic way to put things, she’s aware, but she’s also moved across town because of a break-up, so…

Seungwan helps her unpack, puts what she knows in their right place, and Joohyun appreciates the assistance more than she can vocalize. But it’s getting late and Seungwan has work in the morning, so she lets her friend go with an apologetic smile for taking that long and once again thanking her for staying and for the support.

This new apartment is smaller, cozier, closer to her workplace and there are no memories of her and Donghyun on it, so it’s perfect. Except, it’s also very much empty if she doesn’t count the furniture and, of course, Leo.

Realization hits her again and her mood drops, bitter, so she ignores all the other boxes, ignores the double bed she has yet to assemble and lies on the couch. Leo jumps on her belly as soon as she finds a comfortable position. 

Joohyun wonders if drinking that feeling away again might help this time — for a second, at least, before exhaustion hits her and she passes out.

.

Unfortunately, it’s not too long after that that Joohyun wakes up, her phone buzzing non-stop on the feet of the couch. She rubs her eyes, checking the time and groaning before finally answering the call. 

“Uh, hello?” 

“Hi! Is this, uh, is this… Joohyun?” A woman asks, slurring over her words. She’s probably sleepy, too.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Joohyun replies. Double checking the time on her phone, she sighs once she confirms it is indeed 3 a.m.. “It’s… very late right now, so how about you call me in the morning, hm? I’m so fucking tired.”

She closes her eyes and cradles her head with her free hand, hoping this stranger gives up contacting her right now. Maybe contacting her at all.

Instead, the woman says, “I have your cat.” 

Joohyun straightens her back, pulls her phone away just to look bashfully at it and make sure she’s not imagining things before settling it against her ear again. 

“Wait, I apologize, that sounds like I’m a catnapper, or something.” The woman chuckles awkwardly. “It’s just… I came back from work and I think I left the window open or something because next thing I know there’s a black fur ball on my couch.” 

“Wait, no, it’s not mine, he’s right he–” Joohyun’s words come to a halt when she looks around, to the exact spot she was sure Leo went to take a nap before she fell asleep, only to find it empty. “Fuck. Sorry. I’ll… go get him.” 

She tries to stand up again, but this time, her feet stumble on the toys Leo probably left near the couch before leaving, and she falls to the ground almost instantly. She grunts, then goes back to her phone. 

“Where do you live again?”

.

As it turns out, the catnapper lived right at the end of the hall. After some time mustering up enough courage to leave her comfy couch, Joohyun drags herself lazily towards apartment 6C.

(And if she thinks of leaving that traitor of a cat there forever, well, she ignores the thought as best as she can.)

She knocks on the door  – after an embarrassing long moment as she tries to rub sleepiness away from her eyes some more – and when it creaks open, it’s like the world has just shifted into its axis.

In front of her, dark brown fox-eyes stare back at Joohyun with a knowing glow.

It’s the bartender from all those weeks ago, Seulgi, still in her work clothes, holding her cat and softly caressing his little head.

“You,” Joohyun murmurs accusingly, heat burning at her nape.

Her neighbor’s expression turns from a polite smile to a confusion look, an adorable crinkle between her brows.

“Oh…” she hushes out, hand stilling on top of Leo’s head. “Hi.”

“Seulgi. Hello,” Joohyun greets.

The bartender squints her eyes. It’s not accusing, but baffled as she asks, “I thought you said your name was Irene?”

“Yeah, it’s  – it’s the name I give to acquaintances.” Joohyun shifts her weight to the other leg, and swallows hard once she notices Seulgi won’t say anything else. “ This is awkward.”

The tension is broken when Leo meows, pressing his head against Seulgi’s hand again and insisting for attention. Seulgi giggles, but doesn’t shy away from it, and goes back to rubbing his ears.

Joohyun scrunches her nose at the sight. Spoiled little brat.

“It is, yeah,” Seulgi agrees. She points at her apartment with her thumb. “Do you, uh, want some coffee?”

Leo meows again, hopping off Seulgi’s arms and going straight to Joohyun’s legs. He headbutts her, as if demanding them to go home.

Joohyun looks at Seulgi with what she hopes to be an apologetic look.

“Not now, I probably… I should get going. It’s late.”

Seulgi seems to realize something then, eyes popping open. “Right, yeah, of course!”

“Thank you, though,” Joohyun says. And she means it. “I’m truly so sorry for this, he doesn’t usually sneak out like this.”

“It’s fine.” Seulgi waves a hand in casual dismissal. “I like cats. And this one is just the cutest thing ever, aren’t you Leo?”

She kneels down, only long enough to pat Leo in the head again, and looks up to meet Joohyun’s eyes, but all she can think about is how Seulgi is down on one knee in front of her, eyes warm and kind, and she feels the need to say ‘ _ yes, of course, yes’ _ .

God, she should really go back to sleep.

Joohyun shakes her head, instead deciding to focus how her cat doesn’t even react to Seulgi’s touch other than to close his eyes and knead his head against the bartender’s palm.

He isn’t usually very welcoming to strangers, so the scene in front of her right now is, to say the least, unexpected. After three years of dating Donghyun, Leo never did as much as get close to her ex if not to scrape him.

Joohyun blinks, glances back at Seulgi who looks at her with a smile on her face. It takes her a few moments for her to associate this silly happy woman to the one who left her sore for  _ days _ after that night.

“Sorry I’m being silly. I just  _ really _ like cats.” Seulgi stands up, tucks her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

“No, it’s… It’s fine. Really.” And it most certainly isn’t, because she doesn’t know if she can power through having Seulgi as a neighbor. Much less if her  _ cat  _ is getting fond of her. Joohyun forces a polite smile, knowing it probably came across as a grimace. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Seulgi… I don’t know how to thank you enough for calling me.”

Seulgi leans over the door frame, arms crossed above her chest.

“Maybe over dinner?”  she offers, her voice soft and husky with sleep to the point Joohyun wonders if she is dreaming. 

“Dinner?” she dumbly echoes.

“Yeah,” Seulgi says, hesitancy all over her tone. “You left in a hurry that night and I didn’t get a chance to ask you out.” 

Joohyun chuckles awkwardly  – the kind of laugh that sounds like  _ anything  _ but a laugh.

“Um, I don’t think so,” she replies against her better judgment.

Sure, Seulgi is probably the hottest woman she’s ever seen. Probably the best sex she’s ever had too, but Joohyun is not looking for a relationship – she’s been there, done that, lesson learned.

“I’m sorry it’s just that –”

“Oh, no, it’s cool!” Seulgi interrupts, not sounding all that bothered. It’s 3 a.m., after all. Maybe she was just asking it in the heat of a moment. “Don’t worry. I guess I’ll see you around then?”

“Yeah,” Joohyun agrees, voice nothing but a whisper. “I’ll be there.” She points at the last apartment to her left, taking a clumsy step back that almost makes her stumble to the ground.

“And I’ll be here,” Seulgi says, imitating Joohyun giddily. 

She’s such a dork.

And then she leaves. Joohyun gets back to her apartment, blows an exaggerated puff of air as if she’d run a marathon.

Damn, what are the odds? The last months of her life feel like a bad written rom-com.

_ Meow. _

Joohyun looks down at Leo, who is glaring at her like he knows what she is thinking.

“What are you looking at, fur ball?”

Leo tilts his head to the side, yellow eyes dawning on Joohyun, and meows again.

“Do you think I should’ve said yes?”

_ Meow! _

Joohyun chuckles and sits on her haunches to pet him. “You don’t actually know what I’m talking about, do you?”

The cat doesn’t answer, obviously. He completely ignores Joohyun, passing through her like he didn’t just bother her off bed for him and goes straight to his food bowl.

Yeah, maybe Joohyun deserves that.

.

She doesn’t see Seulgi the next day. Or the next week, not even on the floor of their apartments, the elevator or the entrance hall. The fact that Seulgi works at night while Joohyun spends the day at the office probably doesn’t help either.

(And no,  _ of course, _ Joohyun was not looking for her or trying to bump into her. Whenever she took too long checking her mailbox, whenever she hung around a bit longer than expected in the hallway – they were  _ all  _ accidents.)

And when she opens the door to her place, Leo is always there – sometimes eating, sometimes sleeping, sometimes gawking creepily towards the door like he was  _ expecting  _ her while planning his next move.

So Joohyun assumes it was a one time thing. He isn’t the type of cat to move all that much, let alone  _ sneak out. _ That’s why she’s still puzzled by the fact that he decided to leave the apartment that night.

It’s not until two full weeks later, when she all but throws herself on the couch one night after an exhausting day at work, that her phone rings and an unknown number shows at her screen.

In a haste, Joohyun looks around the room and it only takes her a minute to realize what’s wrong.

.

“Seulgi, I’m so sorry again,” is the first thing Joohyun says when the door to apartment 6C opens and Seulgi stands there, somehow still managing to look stunning despite her disheveled hair and stained pajamas.

Leo walks to her direction right away, meowing loud enough to echo on the empty hallway. He squirms on her feet and simply lies down there, like he’s about to fall asleep. Spoiled bastard.

“It’s fine,” Seulgi says, and it most certainly  _ isn’t  _ because Joohyun can clearly hear how sleepy she is.

“I have no idea how he got out.”

“And I don’t know how he got in.” The bartender makes what seems to be a  _ humpf  _ noise.

With a sigh, Joohyun leans down to pat her cat’s head. Eyes looking up to meet Seulgi, she suddenly feels the need to say once more, “Shit, I’m really sorry.”

Seulgi doesn’t say anything at first, sips slowly the drink on her mug like there’s nothing to be said at all. Eventually, looking like she pondered a lot but settled for something else entirely, she goes, “You really do have a potty mouth, don’t you?”

Joohyun’s cheeks flush, and she gulps, remembers Seulgi’s voice saying she could put that potty mouth to good use as she removed her own underwear.

Seulgi laughs, knowing what she’s done.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

(The way she smirks at her tells Joohyun the opposite.)

“It’s fine. I mean… it happened, right?” she deflects, choosing to do that instead of pointing out the obvious.

“It definitely did.” Seulgi looks at the cup between her hands.

Maybe it’s a touchy subject and Joohyun is not even aware of it. Maybe she should drop it and act like they first met when Leo decided to sneak out all those nights ago, but Joohyun was never one to give up quickly or half-ass anything.

“Look, Seulgi,...” She starts, eyes unintentionally dropping to the way her pajamas’ shirt falls loose on one shoulder, leaving her right collarbone exposed. Hoping to avoid the cliff of thoughts her mind threatens to fall off, she quickly looks back up. “About what happened that night at the club.”

Seulgi looks at her, nothing but a straight line.

“I have an idea.”

“Do you?”

“Let's forget it happened?” Joohyun asks, tone hesitant. Seulgi then pushes her bottom lip, glancing at Joohyun with the most captivating look of uncertainty. “It's not like I regret it, I promise I don’t. I mean, you gave me the fuck of a lifetime.”

Seulgi chokes on her coffee, face red as she wheezes.

Joohyun goes on, doing her best not to laugh at how the woman looks flustered at her swearing. “But I just got out of an incredibly fucked up relationship and I’m not ready for anything yet, so maybe that shouldn't happen anymore.”

“No, you're right.” Seulgi nods, eyes slightly red and teary from the coughing fit. “I get it, don’t sweat it.”

“Yeah.” Joohyun chuckles. “But maybe we could be friends? I wanna be your friend, my cat likes you and he doesn’t like many people, I feel like we're bonded whether we want it or not.”

Seulgi shrugs, a crooked smile on her face and what looks like amusement in her eyes. “Those seem like good bases to build a stable friendship.”

“So... friends?” Joohyun repeats, extending a hand.

The bartender looks at it for a couple seconds until she steps forward, takes Joohyun’s hand with her free one and shakes it.

“Friends.”

Leo meows, still on Joohyun’s feet, and that seems enough to close the deal.

.

Work dinners are tedious and exhausting no matter how much Joohyun tries to convince herself otherwise.

The alcohol helps, though. And there’s plenty of it this time around. It burns against her throat but it’s effective, and she suddenly feels renovated to deal with everyone, including her ex’s best friend who, for some unknown reason, decides he wants to keep her company.

She doesn’t have enough strength to put in some pretense of interest in other people, nor does she want to. So naturally, she runs away.

And by running away she means going straight back home without bothering to say goodbye.

Then, she all but collapses on the couch. Exhausted from work, from the traffic jam, moving home. Everything.

But what she focus on is how her living room is quiet, way too quiet, and  _ fuck  _ she can’t find Leo.

With another frustrated sigh, Joohyun unlocks her phone. She stares at the number on her call history from a week ago and presses call before sleep wins against her.

The call connects. “Hello?”

“Seulgi? Hi, it’s Joohyun here... Is –” 

“Yup, he’s here.” There’s laughter in her tone, and embarrassment paints Joohyun’s cheeks red as she sighs in relief.

“I don’t know how this keeps happening,” she repeats, like she’s done many, many times before. “All this cat does is annoy me, sneaky little bastard.”

“Don’t sweat it, really. He’s actually pretty cute,” Seulgi reassures, a  _ meow  _ following her words. “You’re on 6A, right? I’m taking him there. Wait.”

.

Seulgi arrives not long after that. She’s bare-feet, hair disheveled and she’s wearing  _ glasses,  _ for fuck’s sake. Somehow that makes her even more attractive.

Joohyun notices the tank top she’s wearing and she’s sure the world stopped, for at least a second, before spinning again.

“Hi,” she greets, that same husky voice from the phone falling from her lips. Joohyun bites the inner side of her cheek, remembering how raspy it sounded that night at the bar.

Before Seulgi can safely hand her Leo, the black cat jumps off her arms, bumps his head against Joohyun’s jeans-clad leg as if in greeting, then walks into the apartment like he owns the place.

Seulgi snickers at his behavior.

Joohyun turns to Seulgi. “I’m sorry again.” She sighs, exhausted, then offers Seulgi her best smile. “I don’t know how he keeps getting out.”

Seulgi waves off her apology with a smile of her own. “It’s cool, don’t worry. I just got home anyway.”

Joohyun frowns at that. “Work?”

“Nah. A night out with a couple of friends.”

“That sounds... fun.” And it hangs bitterly against her tongue, because it’s true, it does sound fun, but Joohyun hadn’t had a night like this since the break-up. “It’s nice to know someone’s pouring you a drink for once instead of the opposite.”

If Seulgi finds her dry sense of humor funny or terrible, Joohyun will never know. Her expression seems genuine when she chokes out a laugh, but then again, she could just be a really good actress.

“You could say that.” Seulgi points back to her apartment. “I should go and let you sleep.”

Joohyun nods again, slowly, like she isn’t really up for conversation. Seulgi seems to understand because she also nods politely and steps back, but Joohyun speaks again before she leaves.

“You can stay, if you want. I was just making some tea,” she says softly.

Seulgi hesitates, fingers fidgety and shoulders rigid before tension slowly slips away and she says, in a wisp of a voice, “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”

.

Talking to Seulgi, Joohyun finds out, is actually pretty easy. Maybe it’s because they’re both a little drunk and overly-excited, but conversation never grows boring and they hop from topic to topic like they’ve known each other for years.

“So yeah, we met through mutual friends and now that we’re over it seems like he took custody of our friends,” Joohyun says, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of tea on the giant mug in her hand. “Fucking asshole.”

“That sounds so...” Seulgi adorably frowns, as if she’s looking for the right word. “Mean.”

“You can say shitty, Seulgi.” Joohyun laughs, though there’s no humor at all. “I won’t tell anyone you swore.”

“My lips are sealed.” Seulgi pretends to close a zipper on her lips. “And why did you break up, anyway?”

It’s quiet for a few seconds, Joohyun considering what answer makes her look like less of the asshole she is too.

Truth is, she doesn’t really know what happened. They were the perfect couple in the first year, the kind of couple everyone aspires to be. They got along with each other’s parents, barely had any argument at all (and when they did, it was always for trivial matters, and they always made up by the end of the day).

Things started to get heated on their second year together. Joohyun got a job offer in another state and when she told him, Donghyun made her look like a monster for wanting to go. And she wanted to, she really did – she was ready to throw her whole current life aside if that meant she’d get a nice job to live a comfortable life, but that didn’t mean she wanted to leave him.

So Joohyun told him exactly that, said he could come too because her pay would be high enough to support them both, but apparently that was the wrong thing to say. She’d bruised his ego, and that’s all he could talk about for  _ months. _

She’s not proud of it, but she declined the job and decided to stay. For  _ them,  _ since they were planning to get married eventually and have kids.

It never came to it. Months went by and with that, a whole year later, there was no official proposal or wedding talk.

Joohyun admits, although begrudgingly, that she had her fault in that too. She resented him after the job and threw it on his face whenever they argued, so yeah, maybe he was right for not wanting to marry her after all.

But Joohyun supposes the last straw was when  _ he  _ was offered a job overseas and didn’t even bother to ask Joohyun her opinion on taking it. Maybe she would’ve said yes if he talked to her, but the fact that he did it behind her back was something she could not forgive.

So there he was now, in another country, while Joohyun moped for wasting her years on him and losing a perfect job opportunity.

Engrossed in her own memories, Joohyun almost forgets to answer Seulgi’s question.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable, I just thought you might want someone to talk and –”

“No, it’s fine.” Joohyun interrupts, then clears her throat. “We wanted different things, is all.”

The air seems heavy, and Joohyun shakes her head. She’s still not drunk enough for a talk like this.

She chews on her bottom lip unconsciously, and doesn’t miss the way Seulgi’s eyesight line drops to her mouth. It stays there for a while, a little bit longer than it’s considered friendly, and Joohyun gulps with the thought.

Leo meows, seeming like he did it only to break the moment, and leaves the living room, probably towards Joohyun’s bedroom.

Seulgi laughs lowly, apparently embarrassed, and gets up.

“It’s getting late, I should get going,” She says, sighing in disappointment. “Thank you for the tea.” She walks to the kitchen and puts the mug she was drinking the tea Joohyun made on the sink.

Joohyun follows her closely, stopping right behind her but not close enough to the point they touch. She sees more than she hears as Seulgi shudders out a shaky breath.

This is not good – Joohyun has enough alcohol left in her system to the point she doesn’t feel hesitant with what she’s about to do, and that’s dangerous. She should not be doing this. Not at all.

“I know I said I’m not looking for a relationship, and I’m not, but…” Joohyun breathes in, a hand temptingly resting on Seulgi’s lower back. Slowly, she drags it until her hand is hovering her waist, wondering how long will it take for her to finally press her hands against Seulgi’s abs again. “This wouldn’t be one, would it?”

“You’re still tipsy,” Seulgi says, eyes fluttering close as she shakily sighs and presses her front on Joohyun's sink.

“Maybe I am. But so are you.” And Joohyun knows she’s right, can tell by the slight redness in Seulgi’s cheeks. Either the tea wasn’t effective, or Seulgi had a lot to drink before coming back to her apartment.

It’s dangerous territory, that much Joohyun is sure. She can feel it is by how much her mouth waters at the sight of Seulgi in normal jeans and plain black shirt because all she can think of is what 's underneath and how she’s seen it all.

Everything about the moment feels like a mistake waiting to happen.

And maybe Seulgi is just as intoxicated as she is, because all she does is turn around and catch her lips in a hungry kiss.

“I just want to –” Seulgi tries to say, low and husky, a little strained, Joohyun’s lips still very much attached to hers. “I really, really don’t usually do this.”

Joohyun laughs, bites her lower lip once she hears how Seulgi gasps when her hand slides over her chest. She pulls Seulgi down by her shoulder, mouth trailing the side of her neck.

“I’ll gladly be the exception.”

.

Things don’t dramatically change after that.

It shouldn’t and it won’t, so they keep it simple.

They see each other when they can, and text when they feel like it. No strings attached, and that’s all it has to be.

.

Most of the time, Joohyun is the one who asks Seulgi to come over.

It usually happens on days where her workload is heavier and she’s in dire need of relieving some steam so she texts Seulgi, and it’s not long until the bartender texts back, even with a simple  _ yeah, of course,  _ so casual like Joohyun hasn’t just basically asked for a fuck _. _

This time, Joohyun sits lazily by the couch, waiting for Seulgi to knock on her door when Leo jumps on her lap. He blinks at her, his ears perked up like he’s demanding an explanation as to why she can’t stay still for longer than a minute.

“Seulgi’s coming over, fur ball,” she tells him. Leo merely tilts his head to the side, and Joohyun scratches his ears. “Will you behave, huh?”

He doesn’t say anything, but his bright yellow eyes don’t leave her face and he shakes his head like he knows what Joohyun means.

The doorbell rings then, and Leo jumps off her lap to stand in the middle of the floor, as if  _ ready  _ to disobey Joohyun at the first opportunity.

“It’s open,” Joohyun yells, going to the kitchen to get Leo some food. Maybe that way he won’t nag them all that much.

When Joohyun comes back, Seulgi is crouching by Leo’s side, scraping his little face while he yowls. “How’s it going, little guy?”

_ Meow! _

Joohyun wonders if she should be feeling jealous for Leo answering Seulgi and not her. She leans against the countertop, watches the interaction with curious eyes. So much for not cockblocking them.

“Hey you,” the woman says a few moments later, voice silvery, only then realizing Joohyun was already back. “Where can I wash my hands?”

Joohyun points to the bathroom, and Seulgi leaves without another word.

When they’re alone again, Leo seems to glare at her, and so Joohyun does the same, changing her expression quickly once Seulgi comes back.

And then he leaves, like he realized he’s not needed there.

“Hi,” Joohyun says, breathy, and when her eyes connect with Seulgi’s, she’s got a smirk that only fades when Seulgi presses her harshly against the wall with a kiss.

.

Getting promoted didn’t exactly give Joohyun the satisfaction she felt it would. Of course, her pay is higher now and she doesn’t have to deal with all the basics anymore, and that includes certain types of contracts and other business deals. So it’s a bonus.

But the amount of reports and feedbacks she needs to send to her boss has increased, and if Joohyun was having trouble sleeping before, it’s worse now.

Her meds aren’t helping either. They were useful once, effective enough, but now taking them doesn’t change anything.

And maybe it’s not only because of work, because  _ really,  _ the last months weren’t exactly easy, but blaming it on her job and not on the fact that she feels she’s the most horrible person alive is much better.

Her distraction comes as a phone call not many hours into the night, when Joohyun is immersed in finishing yet another spreadsheet.

“Hey Seul,” she greets, soft like she wasn’t just interrupted, massaging her temples to ease a headache.

“Hey,” Seulgi replies. “Are you home?”

“Yeah — oh shit,” Joohyun says with a deep sigh, hearing a faint yet clear  _ meow!  _ on the other side of the line. She shuffles some papers, looks around the room as if trying to be sure. “I swear he was right here.”

“He’s a sneaky one, isn’t he?” Seulgi chuckles. “I’ll bring him over.”

“Are you sure? I can go and pick him up,” Joohyun asks, not very confident she can. This headache has been bothering her since earlier and she almost passed out with how dizzy she was when she got up from the chair to get some water.

“I got him,” the bartender assures, and she hears the sound of a door closing.

“Okay,” Joohyun says. “See you in a bit.”

“See you,” Seulgi replies with a smile on her voice.

Joohyun ends the call, pockets her phone, and looks down at the place Leo was watching her work. It makes her smile a bit. Seeing Seulgi at the end of the day isn’t so bad after all, she’ll give Leo that.

The soft admission, even only to herself, makes Joohyun pause. It’s a silly crush, that’s all there is to it. She needs to get it out of her system as soon as possible.

Seulgi arrives in less than a minute, and she knocks gently three times until Joohyun gets up to swing it open for her.

“Hi,” Seulgi says, whisper-y, and Joohyun bites back a smile.

She’s draped in an oversized yellow shirt, messily tucked in her slacks. God, she’s so cute.

“Hey,” Joohyun finally greets, leaning against the door frame. Mostly because she’s maybe feeling a little dizzy again, but she’s sure Seulgi’s smile has something to do with it.

Stupid silly crush – even the word makes Joohyun want to roll her eyes. She’s thirty, for fuck’s sake, she’s not in the age to bother with  _ crushes  _ like she’s still in high school _. _

Before she can find something more interesting to say, more appealing than the breathless greeting, Leo is squirming in her arms until he’s leaping to the floor. He headbutts Joohyun’s leg like he does it every time and goes back to the same place he was before.

He side-eyes Joohyun from where he stands, before snuggling better against his bed and closing his eyes. What a brat.

“You’re welcome, kitty,” Seulgi says tenderly with a roll of eyes to punctuate it. When Joohyun doesn’t say anything, she turns to her, brows furrowed. “Are you feeling okay?”

Joohyun dismisses her with a smile. Is she really looking so terrible to the point Seulgi notices something’s wrong just with a quick glance?

“Yeah, fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” And there’s nothing belittling about the way she says it. It’s not rude, but thoughtful and appreciative. “Is there something bothering you?”

It was such an open-ended question. What was bothering her? How about where does she even  _ start? _

She hadn’t seen her friends in days – the only two left, at least – and by now they were getting worried. Sure, she crossed paths with them at work, but never lingered long enough to engage in actual conversation. A part of her thinks she should keep it that way. If there’s something she’s not proud of herself is that she’s  _ not  _ a good person to be with when she’s annoyed or upset.

Joohyun settles for a, “I can’t sleep,” and Seulgi hums thoughtfully.

She seems to realize the hesitancy in Joohyun's voice because she doesn’t press her. The complete opposite, in fact.

“Have you, uh, have you had dinner yet?”

Joohyun hadn’t. She sometimes skipped dinner, and that night she had actually forgotten about it until Seulgi mentioned it.

“No, not yet,” Joohyun says, crossing her arms. She hopes not to seem closed off, and smiles to alleviate the serious posture.

“Do you maybe want to order in together? We can watch something, too.” she asks, unsure if she’s crossing any boundary.

They haven’t established any, but there was always this silent agreement between them that their nights together didn’t mean anything else. Seulgi didn’t seem to want to change that, neither did Joohyun, but so far, she was an amazing friend. Benefits included.

And she looks so earnest, so sweet and gentle and caring under the hallway lights, fiddling with her hair and swallowing hard like she’s afraid of the answer that Joohyun doesn’t hesitate, not for a second.

“I’d love that,” she replies, soft like waves on the night beach.

And that’s enough to pull the most beautiful beam Joohyun had ever seen on Seulgi’s lips, eyes shining like the sun between tree leaves.

.

Nights with Seulgi became a habit. Whether it was a minute of her bringing Leo to Joohyun’s place and going back home, or three hours doing whatever they wanted to.

Sometimes, she couldn’t stay too long because she had to go work and wouldn’t be back until morning, so she bid goodbye to Leo with a tight hug and some closed-mouthed kisses and hugged Joohyun on the way out.

Sometimes, Joohyun asked her to come over again and when Seulgi did, she would kneel down and talk to Leo, cooing like she was talking to a baby and then she’d go towards Joohyun, yanking her away to the nearest wall and kissing her hard.

It was funny, actually, how Leo didn’t take kindly to strangers but would jump on Seulgi’s lap whenever she was there. He would snuggle closer to her, get the cuddles he wanted and then leave like the pampered bastard he was. And it didn’t help that Seulgi never pushed him away.

Quite the opposite, in fact, she would let him cling on her as much as he wanted. When he kept following her to the door and meowing at her dramatically like he didn’t want her to go home, she would crouch and hug him then say, “What is it, buddy? You wanna go with me?” while she squeezed him in her arms and scratched his chin.

And, see, Joohyun wasn’t jealous, of course not. She was not jealous of a fucking cat. But  _ something  _ tightened at her belly every time it happened, despite her best efforts to treat it like nothing at all.

There were also nights where Seulgi stayed over longer, and they ordered in or she helped Joohyun cook (tried to, at least). But it felt nice and familiar, like Joohyun was finally taking a break from heartbreak, even though she’s not sure that’s the right word to put it.

It helps that Seulgi’s company is warm and supportive, a pleasant change to the pace of Joohyun’s day to day. And it’s nice to have a new friend, someone who didn’t know her  _ then,  _ only knows who she is now.

So Joohyun leaves it be.

.

Sometimes, it feels like she’s  _ finally  _ in a good place and she can leave the past where it belongs. But there’s always  _ something _ to pull her back, something that comes out of nothing and tugs her in so strongly that makes Joohyun feel like all process was for nothing.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Joohyun ignores her, storming out of the elevator like _ Seulgi _ is the one to blame and not that jerk she used to call a boyfriend. Seulgi follows right behind her, grocery bags still in her hands.

They reach the end of the hall, to where Joohyun’s apartment is, and she tries to disregard how downcast Seulgi looks as she struggles to open the door.

“Did I do anything? Are you mad at me?”

“For the love of god, Seulgi,  _ stop.” _

And it’s not fair, Joohyun knows. It’s not fucking fair at all, because the woman in front of her is nothing but kind and yet Joohyun just lashed out on her when all she did was ask why did she seem to be in such a bad mood, like she was the one at fault, not Donghyun.

“Here, let me help,” Seulgi offers. She drops her grocery bags on the floor without blinking, reaches out to gently pry away the key from Joohyun's shaky hands.

They step into Joohyun’s apartment quickly once Seulgi manages to open the door, and the older of the two strides forward like Seulgi isn’t even there.

By the corner of the living room, Leo raises his eyes to Joohyun, but he seems to sense her bad mood because all he does is turn his head away, staring at Seulgi for a second before he curls up on his bed again.

“Can you please talk to me?” Seulgi nearly pleads.

Joohyun stammers out an agonized breath. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. I know it’s not your fault –“

She’s about to make a long ass rant, but Seulgi beats her to it.

“I know something happened and you’re upset. You didn’t have to take it on me, but I get it, it’s fine. I just want to know if I did something, too,” she calmly explains.

Joohyun admires her patience, how she doesn’t seem fazed and ready to run away.

“You didn’t, I just –” _ I’m an asshole like that. _ “It was a bad day. I’m so sorry for railing at you.”

The confession is quiet, and Seulgi takes the moment to put her grocery bags inside, closing the door and walking towards the couch to sit by Joohyun's side.

“I can tell.” Seulgi sighs. “Wanna talk?”

“It’s alright, I just…” she starts, letting her shoulders drop in discontent. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to get distracted and forget it even happened.”

“Oh.” Seulgi takes a long inhale, and she looks shy for a moment before she says, “I might have something to help?”

“No booze involved though,” Joohyun briskly adds. “I feel like I should deal with this sober this time.”

“Of course. No booze.” Seulgi laughs lightly. “I was actually going to ask if you wanted to go to a noraebang with me? My sister took me there last week and I’ve been dying to go back. It was fun.”

Seulgi’s smile has this twitch at the corner, in a way that makes it seem like she’s not sure why she’s asking in the first place, like she knows Joohyun will say no but she decided to lay out the offer there just in case.

“What do you think?”

God, she has always hated noraebangs.

“Sure. When can we go?”

.

They go together later that day, taking advantage of the fact that today is Seulgi’s night off.

Seulgi pays for the booth, claims she does it because it was her idea and she was the one who _ dragged _ Joohyun here. And Joohyun accepts, promising she won’t complain about it as long as she’s the one who pays for their food.

Joohyun never had a problem going out with her friends and Donghyun. It was always messy and loud, but she had fun. It’s a different experience to be in a booth the size of this one with only _ one _ person, though.

When she goes out with a lot of people, she doesn’t have to try so hard to mingle, doesn’t have to keep conversation going, but now, it seems like keeping Seulgi entertained when there’s only the two of them might be a problem.

Apparently, Seulgi doesn’t feel the same way. She seems excited as she sings, and dances, and pulls Joohyun to join her even when she chooses a solo and not a duo. It’s silly and carefree, and it brings such comfort to Joohyun to the point it feels like the catastrophe from earlier is nothing more than a distant memory.

“My ex called today,” Joohyun says at the end of the night, when they’ve just arrived at their building and the poor lighting of Seulgi’s car and the parking lot gives her enough confidence to do so.

Seulgi turns to her, and even in the darkness, Joohyun can see dark pools of warmth.

“He wanted the things he left at our apartment back and I told him I threw it at all away because I didn’t want any trace of him on my life again,” she goes on, snorting before adding, “So of course he yelled and called me a bitch, and all the bad words you can possibly imagine. Jackass.”

Seulgi imitates her softly like in agreement.

“And I don’t love him anymore, I haven’t for a long time, I know that, but it’s so frustrating, because I put everything I had in that relationship and yet…” She sucks in a breath, shakes her head like she doesn’t want to dwell on self-pity. “He’s not even wrong, you know. I’m a bitch when I’m angry, you saw it.”

“You’re too harsh on yourself,” Seulgi cuts in. She completely turns around now, propping her leg on the seat before giving Joohyun undivided attention. “I can be really unfair sometimes. Like, unfair to the point where I won’t admit I’m wrong no matter how much the other person insists. Sometimes I hurt people I care about because I want something from them that they can’t give and I don’t realize until it’s too late. I also really, really don’t like when people disagree with me.”

The smooth, fluid show of honesty catches her off guard. Joohyun frowns, unsure where this is going. Is Seulgi trying to make her feel better, or trying to prove a point?

Head cocked to the side, Seulgi asks, “Do you think I’m a bad person?”

Joohyun is quick to shake her head, dismissing the question so rapidly that it’s almost embarrassing. 

“No, not at all.”

No, Seulgi could never be a bad person. She’s understanding and calm and supportive. But she’s also a human being at the end of the day, someone who has flaws, bad habits and makes mistakes.

Seulgi’s lack of answer is what makes Joohyun finally understand what she was trying to do. It’s a clever way to indulge Joohyun in admitting to herself what Seulgi was trying to prove, so she gives her a close-mouthed smile for the effort.

Seulgi’s grin is honest and warm, and just like that Joohyun feels much more at ease.

“Then you’re not a bad person either.”

.

“You look happy,” Seungwan says one day, when she comes over to Joohyun’s apartment to pick her up so they can go and have a, what she called, ‘girls night’. They hadn’t had one of those in ages.

She had no intention to go, had no intention to leave her comfy bed, but she was at Seulgi’s place when Seungwan called, and the bartender was just there, fresh out of the shower. She probably read the look on Joohyun's face because she insisted Joohyun should go. They saw each other almost every night, after all, even though they hadn’t done anything more than  _ talk  _ in the last two weeks, and during one of those late-night talks Joohyun might’ve told her that she hadn’t gone to a party in months.

Seulgi pouted, said with the softest tone she could manage, “ _ This will be good for you, Hyunnie. You can’t have just  _ me.  _ You need to have fun with your other friends too _ .”

And Joohyun is not sure if it was still the aftermath of the massage Seulgi gave her before showering that left her mind hazy and easily yielded, but she found herself asking Seungwan what time she needed to be ready either way.

Seulgi had grinned like crazy and kissed her cheek, promising she wouldn’t regret it.

“I look the same,” Joohyun counters back, rolling her eyes at the comment.

This time, it’s Sooyoung who prompts in, the junior accountant in the office. Despite only being added to the team a few months ago, they grew close quickly.

“I agree with Seungwan unnie on this.”

“And no one asked for your opinion,” Joohyun singsongs, grabbing her purse and phone, ready to leave the apartment. “Can we go?”

“You’re so boring,” Sooyoung complains, but turns around to leave the apartment. “I wish you had followed Seungwan’s advice to get laid that time. You’re either cranky as hell or smiling like a creep lately. Your mood swings are giving me a headache.”

Right, she didn’t tell her friends what happened with Seulgi. Or what is  _ happening  _ with Seulgi.

But they’re friends, that’s all. Friends who have sex occasionally and bond over that devilish little cat Joohyun calls Leo. And if there’s something Seungwan and Sooyoung are, it's nosy _.  _ So no, there’s nothing they should know about.

.

It takes less than a minute inside the club for Joohyun to realize just how out of place she is. The noise bothers her. The lights, the people, the smell; it all feels like a little too much.

She wonders if it would be rude to take a step back while no one else is looking, to leave the club like she was never even there in the first place and give up that atypical girls night while she still has a choice.

But she doesn’t, of course. Her friends had come all the way to her place and they didn’t even need to beg for her to come with them, so it would be unfair to leave like this.

So, while they’re busy finding their place on the dance floor, Joohyun leaves to the other end of the club, claiming she should get a drink first.

Once she reaches the end, the room splits into two areas. Joohyun quickly assumes the one in the right is the VIP area once she realizes how uncrowded it is, the floor steps down a few levels to another dance floor thrumming with smoke and flashing lights.

To her left, a bar takes over most of the floor, safely elevated. This is where she heads up next, self-consciously pulling down at the hem of her dress.

There are a few empty seats at the bar and only a couple groups of bystanders around the edges, making use of the quieter space to talk without straining their voices.

Joohyun lets out a relieved breath when she drops onto an empty barstool in the middle, dropping her clutch unceremoniously onto the bar top and shuts her eyes.

“If you’re looking for a place to take a nap, I assure you this is not it,” a familiar voice says, pulling Joohyun out of her reverie, and she blinks, surprised.

“Seulgi. You’re here,” she mumbles.

“Hey, Joohyun,” the bartender greets and with an annoying smirk and a twitch of her left eyebrow, corrects, “Or is it Irene, since we’re in a nightclub again?”

“Shut up.” Joohyun laughs. “It’s Joohyun for you.”

“So bossy,” Seulgi whispers, almost like sharing a secret she couldn’t let anyone else close-by find out. She adds, like an afterthought, “I like it.”

Joohyun rolls her eyes, ignoring how her face feels hot at her words. She then squints her eyes, putting her best accusing look as she asks, “Is this why you said I should come with my friends tonight? Just so you could tease me like this?”

The bartender shakes her head with a giggle, lifts her hands like in surrender. “No, I promise! I thought you were going to someone’s party, or something?”

“Yeah, I thought so too. Clubs aren’t really my scene, as you’re already aware.” Joohyun snorts. “I thought you worked downtown though?”

Seulgi grabs a wipe to clean her side of the counter, supports her weight on it when she’s done and shrugs. “Some nights, yeah. But here, too.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Joohyun scrunches her face, like she’s only thought of it now.

Seulgi giggles. “So… can I get you something to drink?”

“Just a lemonade margarita on the rocks, please,” Joohyun asks, pouting like some demanding child.

“Sure, Hyunnie.”

Seulgi turns around to grab a bottle on the top shelf, staying on her toes long enough to reach it.  _ Cute.  _ She comes back to stand in front of Joohyun, not saying anything but completely focusing on finishing the drink.

Joohyun enjoys the moment to take her in – this time, she’s wearing a black sleeveless shirt, pressed tight to her form, and muscle arms completely exposed. She squirms on her seat, thinking about how said arms had held her strongly against the wall of her bedroom and took her right there in that position once.

“Here,” Seulgi says, pushing the drink towards Joohyun, who scans the lemonade briefly and peers back to the bartender with a devilish grin.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“How do you keep that ice from melting when you’re so hot?”

There’s a beat – while Joohyun stares at Seulgi teasingly, she simply stares back without a word, baffled. Until the moment is broken by Joohyun's loud laugh.

“ _ Unnie, _ ” Seulgi drags the word. “And I thought I was the bad comedian.”

“Oh no, don’t get me wrong, you still are,” Joohyun insists. “Just thought I should step in as a terrible flirt.”

The bartender rolls her eyes, clearly used to Joohyun's antics by now. It’s barely two seconds when two familiar bodies come closer to Joohyun, ready to pull her to dance, but Seulgi is suddenly too distracted putting Joohyun's glass away beneath the counter, because she just says, casually, “You flirt just fine. If you didn’t, that first night wouldn’t have happened at all. Neither the ones that followed.”

“That first  _ what? _ ” Sooyoung screeches, and that seems to catch Seulgi’s attention, forcing her to raise her eyes. She grins sheepishly, winking at Joohyun before going to another patron.

What a sly brat.

Joohyun turns to her friends, a forced grimace set on her lips. “How about we all go to dance a bit, hm?” And then she forces them to turn around, pushing at their backs towards the dance floor.

She steals a glance back to where Seulgi’s at, squinting her eyes to the bartender, who just grins at her without a single concern.

.

Seungwan and Sooyoung leave not too late in the night, claiming they both have work in the morning and they don’t want to wake up with a hangover. Joohyun says goodbye, but claims to want a last drink before heading home.

(And if Sooyoung makes a snarky comment about how she just wants an excuse to flirt with the pretty bartender, well, Joohyun pretends she doesn’t hear.)

“So you’re back,” Seulgi singsongs. “I assume you want to give this poor bartender a generous tip since I’m almost done for the night?”

Joohyun bites her lip, lets her eyes fall to Seulgi’s exposed neck.

“You know what? Yeah, I want to give you a tip,” she says, earning a side-eyed, suspicious stare from Seulgi. “Here’s one: I think you should take me home tonight.”

Seulgi giggles, throws her head back like Joohyun has just said a joke. The move, despite being relaxed and carefree, brings a knot to Joohyun's stomach. It makes her remind other moments when Seulgi did that exact same thing, but for a completely different reason.

“I guess I can do that.”

.

They pressed each other against the walls of the elevator and through the hallway, against the wallpaper of Joohyun’s living room until they fell into bed, skin now slick against skin.

Joohyun shudders as Seulgi’s hands trail an uneven path on her back, bringing her closer only enough to lift her leg and press their bodies together in heat. She lets out a shaky whimper when Seulgi bites harshly on her collarbone, licking the bruise away as Joohyun seethes against her.

She likes the way Seulgi is rough yet lenient, like she knows how harshly Joohyun likes to be taken but how much she appreciates to be in control.

And it’s enthralling, so Joohyun welcomes the heady rush of hands and lips ravenously.

.

“You’re spoiling him,” Joohyun mumbles, distasteful, as she flops down on the bed with Seulgi the next day. 

It’s almost noon, so she’ll have to get ready to leave soon. Remembering how she’ll be forced to leave this moment of warmth behind presses bitterly against her tongue, but at least makes her remember something she’s been meaning to ask Seulgi.

“I am not,” Seulgi says, acting like she’s just heard the  _ worst  _ allegation ever, but still caresses Leo’s ears and holds him in the arms like he’s a baby.

He’s anything but a baby, though, and it’s funny to see how he still acts like one on Seulgi’s arms, purring and smoothing his head against Seulgi's touch. He’s not like that, not even with Joohyun. 

“You are! Look at you!” Joohyun says, with no actual bite, and the laugh Seulgi lets out drags a chuckle out of Joohyun. “He’s a rascal, you know.”

“Don’t be mean.” Seulgi pouts.

“No, seriously! Did I ever tell you I had no plans to adopt him, like, at all?”

Her neighbor – catnapper, fuck buddy, friend? All the above? – frowns. “No. And how did that happen?”

Joohyun reaches out to pat him too, but Leo grunts when her hand touches him and she pulls away.

“See? He doesn’t even treat  _ me  _ this nicely. You’re totally spoiling him!” she insists, to which Seulgi responds with a roll of eyes. “Anyways, I was just moving to the house I used to live with Donghyun and whenever I came back from work, he was there, meowing like crazy until he got cuddles and food. Then, when he got what he wanted, he would leave. One day, he simply fell asleep there and never left.”

“He chose you as his human, isn’t it an honor?” Seulgi says, delighted.

“He hates me, Seul. I’m just his food provider, since he’s now going to you for cuddles. I’ll be replaced soon,” she breathes, dramatically, shaking her head.

“Don’t be silly,” Seulgi scoffs. “You’re his favorite mom.”

It’s supposed to be just a joke, Joohyun knows, but the sentence flutters inside her belly either way.

“I don’t remember you filling the papers to step in as his other mom,” she says, eyes squinted.

“I’m like the distant parent who visits once in a while,” Seulgi justifies, to which Joohyun stares at her with a raised eyebrow.

“More like everyday,” Joohyun snorts. “You’re always here lately, and you’re always cuddling him. That’s why he thinks of you as the better mom and doesn’t like me anymore.”

“That’s not true,” Seulgi adamantly disagrees. Leaning down to be face to face to Leo, she demands, very seriously, “Come on, tell Hyun you like her, KitKat.”

Leo doesn’t move. Joohyun arches an eyebrow.

“Did you just call my cat  _ KitKat _ ?”

Seulgi sheepishly grins. “Isn’t he the fluffiest kitty cat, though?”

Joohyun huffs, blinking as if offended by the comparison. “Whatever, dork.”

She moves away from Seulgi, sitting at the edge of the bed, and watches as Seulgi keeps playing with Leo. He curls up on her lap, like there’s nothing in the world that could ruin his peace and quiet.

“Hey, Seul, can I ask you something?”

Seulgi sits straighter, looks Joohyun in the eye and lets out a tiny, “Yeah, sure. Anything.”

“You’re acting like I’m asking you to hide a corpse. It’s not that serious.” When Seulgi lets out a heavy breath, Joohyun pretends to be considering something as she adds, “Though I might need to hide yours if you don’t do what I’m going to request properly.”

Seulgi’s throat bobs up, and Leo lets this tiny little noise, as if aware Seulgi is in trouble, and jumps off her arms to go straight back to the living room.

“And there he runs. “What is it?”

Joohyun does her best not to let her expression be obvious, but fails – terribly so – when she says, “I just wanted to ask if you could watch over Leo for a while. I’ll be out of town for a few days, work related stuff, and I’ll be back by the end of this week, but my flight takes off later today.”

“Oh,” Seulgi hushes, clearly relieved. Tension slips away from her expression with a relaxed giggle. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”

“Good. I know he doesn’t like me, but unfortunately, I’m very much attached to him –”

“Don’t be dramatic. Of course he likes you.”

“So!” Joohyun goes on, pretending she wasn’t interrupted. “I don’t want anything happening to him.”

“And I assure nothing will.”

“Good.” It sounds whisper-y, though her voice was steady, loud enough for Seulgi to hear. She watches as the other woman licks her lips, and gets ready for what’s coming next. Instead, Joohyun’s phone buzzes against the nightstand, pulls her out of her moment with Seulgi and she groans, going to answer it begrudgingly.

It’s a text from Sooyoung, asking what time she needs to go to the airport and offering to take her there and pick her up when she comes back. Joohyun scrolls up, only to realize she’s failed to see how many texts her friends sent the night before.

And of course, she ignores all of them, merely replying with a ‘5 p.m.’ and a ‘that would be nice’, before setting the phone aside.

“If my friends don’t leave me alone after what you said at the bar, I’ll sic my cat on you,” Joohyun threatens, left eyebrow raised defiantly but no bite to her words at all.

“And how will you do that if he likes me so much?”

Joohyun squints her eyes cutely. “I have my ways.”

“Sure,” Seulgi mocks. After what seems to be a minute of consideration, she decides to add, albeit hesitant, “Would it really be so bad if they knew?”

And she’s not talking about the relentless teasing Joohyun will have to endure if they find out, that much she’s sure by the way her voice becomes smaller. Joohyun's easy smile slips away slowly and the question hangs between, unsorted tension weighing on Joohyun’s shoulders.

She’s not entirely sure what that single sentence means. Has no idea, actually. What she does know is that she and Seulgi have been getting closer over the past two months, and not just in the physical sense of the word.

Joohyun knows Seulgi’s favorite food, knows how she gets extra cuddly after sex, knows about her habit of pinching her earlobe when she’s nervous. It’s mostly friendly, she tells herself, because friends know stuff about one another, but she’s afraid she and Seulgi might not be on the same page anymore by how her voice wavers.

At her lack of an answer, Seulgi prompts, “I’m not sleeping with anyone else, you know.”

Her affirmation takes a few seconds to sink in, but when it does, Joohyun's posture tenses, her eyes seem sharper.

“Okay,” she says, drawling the word carefully, because, honestly, what else is there to say?

Realization seems to dawn on Seulgi then. Her eyes open a little wider, her face a little more bewildered. “I swear I don’t mean it like that. I know what we have is just casual, I just –” She sighs, shrugging in surrender. “Just wanted to tell you I’m not sleeping around, so there isn’t any confusion. I like to practice safe sex and everything.”

It’s a terrible excuse. God, it’s  _ awful,  _ really, and Joohyun can see right through her. But Seulgi knows better than to catch feelings for her, and so does Joohyun, so she says, just for the sake of it:

“I’m not sleeping with anyone else either.” She swallows the sudden thickness forming in her throat. There’s a pause, brief but still persistent until she completes with a, “At the moment.”

Seulgi nods. “Okay, that’s – that’s good to know.”

An unexpected thought nags at the back of Joohyun’s mind for a second, and she pushes it away as quickly as it came, knowing damn well that it will definitely come across as if she cares who Seulgi sleeps with. She doesn’t, obviously, so she remains silent.

In the end, she puts on a smile, turning at Seulgi with taunting eyes as she moves to straddle her.

“Anyways, where were we?”

Seulgi smiles too, faintly to the point it doesn’t reach her eyes, but rolls off the duvet on top of her and kisses Joohyun.

.

They go to a convenience shop near their building after lunch, and buy some snacks for Joohyun's trip because Seulgi  _ insisted  _ she should take something to eat.

“I know the flight isn’t long, but you never know what might happen,” Seulgi says, distractedly putting way too many Pringles cans in the basket, and Joohyun removes half of them with a sigh.

“No that many snacks, though,” she replies, adjusting the cans back on their shelf.

Seulgi rolls her eyes, and Joohyun ignores her to focus on reading the nutritive information at the back of the two nutritious bars she wants to buy.

After a few minutes of no answer, Seulgi says, “Just get both if you don’t know which one is better.”

“No… I've tried both, I just need to see which one has less calories,” Joohyun whines. “I’m not like you, Seul, I can’t eat all that and somehow manage to still have abs. I need to balance my diet.”

Seulgi scoffs like she said the stupidest thing she could ever say, lips furrowed into a pout as she says, “But you’re beautiful even without your abs.”

“Don’t flatter me that much, I know you’re just trying to get into my pants.” As an afterthought and a quirk of her eyebrow, she continues, “Again, at least.”

“It pains me to know that’s what you think of me.”

And the way Seulgi acts so dejected, like she’s genuinely hurt by what she said, is what makes Joohyun set the nutrition bars aside and come to her side, holding Seulgi by the nape of her neck and caressing the baby hairs there softly.

“But did I lie?”

Seulgi scoffs, turning her gaze away. “Maybe.”

Joohyun gives her a smug smile, presses her lips to her cheek for the briefest of seconds. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

In her current state of mind, blinded by the bliss of Seulgi’s company and compliments and worries and displays of affection, she realizes she wants to do something she shouldn’t.

She wants to reach forward and peck Seulgi on the lips, a short but toe-curling kiss, and finish buying snacks with their hands tangled like they’re just another couple.

And if Seulgi’s coy look makes Joohyun feel dizzy for a moment, well… she blames it on the last minute trip jitters.

.

It happens when Joohyun is trying to finish packing her bags, head throbbing painfully like it does almost every day. She massages her left temple as she stumbles on the bed, eyes closed because she couldn’t keep them open with how much it aches.

Seulgi rushes to her side as soon as she comes back to the bedroom.

“What is it?” She reaches to touch her temple too, and though Joohyun flinches with the contact, she doesn’t fight it.

“I haven’t had a full night of sleep in days,” she explains. Her eyes peer open, and she focuses them on Seulgi with the gentlest of looks she can manage.

“Did you take your meds?”

There’s a crease between Seulgi’s eyebrows, and her eyes seem sharper, like it pains her to see Joohyun like this.

Joohyun doesn’t want to dwell on it, doesn’t want to let her heart swell by the attention, so she whips her head away.

She clicks her tongue, tries to mask it with humor, “Have they ever?”

“You should get new meds, then,” Seulgi replies like it’s the simplest of solutions. “You had a terrible migraine last week and a few horrible headaches throughout the month. Now you’re saying you haven’t been sleeping properly and this... this isn’t healthy, Hyun, you shouldn’t have to –”

For some reason, she doesn’t get to finish her sentence. Instead, her words are followed by a huge intake of air.

It happens when Joohyun looks up, and Seulgi is staring at her so intensely that the words she'd wanted to say promptly dies on her tongue, and she's left gaping at the younger woman.

Seulgi squirms in her place, probably noticing that there’s something else Joohyun is not telling her, like she knows she’s said the wrong thing, and asks, “What?”

The answer burns at the tip of her tongue and Joohyun freezes.

“Nothing.” The word cracks, and Joohyun smiles, ignores how her heart thrums at the concern, at how Seulgi managed to somehow remember how it’s not the first time she’s having such a bad headache.

And it’s nice that she paid attention, that she cares. It makes Joohyun wonder, in what feels like a moment of weakness, would it be that bad if her friends knew? If she and Seulgi were something  _ more  _ than what they are?

She tries to forget about it, tries not to think about Seulgi’s gaze for the rest of the day.

.

The amount of meetings on the first two day sneak up on Joohyun. For a bit there, she’d forgotten that was the entire point of her trip to Japan.

Besides that, the day is as uneventful as one can expect from a business trip.

It’s only when it’s way past midnight, the time that Joohyun knows Seulgi is coming home from work, that her phone buzzes with a text, and Joohyun eagerly grabs it like she was  _ waiting  _ for it.

Which she wasn’t. Obviously.

**_He misses you. He’s been moping around all day_ **

The text is followed by a picture of Leo. Or at least what Joohyun assumes to be him. He’s turned around, curled up in the corner of Seulgi’s apartment like he fell asleep there and didn’t budge ever since.

**_I doubt that_ **

She sends another text before her brain catches up, breathing deeply before pressing  _ send. _

**_But I know I miss you_ **

It’s probably not as suggestive as Joohyun makes it seem to be, but she’s having a hard time thinking straight about anything to do with Seulgi. A reply comes not even a full minute later.

**_How much?_ **

Okay so, that’s definitely suggestive. And it stirs something inside of her that Joohyun is already pressing the button  _ Call  _ before her mind stops her.

“Hey,” Seulgi’s voice sounds breathy, and suddenly Joohyun feels warm, the memory of Seulgi’s whines feeling fresh in her mind. She thinks of soft whispers, the way she asks for more when Joohyun talks her through an orgasm.

“I wouldn’t peg you as one to be stubborn,” she says, low and throaty. They haven’t really spoken on the phone before and considering what prompted the call – she feels compelled to act like she’s acting right now. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re a brat?”

“You did. More than once.” A warm silence stretches through the line for a moment before Seulgi adds, “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Joohyun swallows a thick, warm feeling of arousal in her throat.

“Me too. I had back to back meetings today,” Joohyun informs. “And all I could think about is how much I want to touch you again.”

Something throbs between her legs and only thinking of the way Seulgi writhed beneath her makes her lips go dry.

She should not be feeling like this just from a casual conversation, but it’s the knowledge of Seulgi’s effect on her that prompts such behavior, making her feel warm all over.

“So, what are you wearing?” she asks, low and deep, and she can almost  _ hear _ Seulgi rolling her eyes at the tacky line.

“We’re not having phone sex.”

Joohyun laughs. “Not yet.”

“Have you ever even done this? Are you any good?” Seulgi asks, a little hesitant and awkward. Joohyun feels it too, but that wave of arousal seems to be taking over her.

“I’m good at everything I do, you should know that,” Joohyun says and it’s supposed to be a joke, but the way she hears Seulgi’s breath hitching down the line tells she sounded confident enough for the bartender to consider she might mean it.

It comes out strained when she teases back, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Joohyun takes the challenge, lowers her voice and with a smirk, she commands, “Then you should take your clothes off.”

.

It’s Seungwan who comes to pick her up at the airport by the end of the week, and it catches Joohyun off guard considering she was expecting Sooyoung. Or maybe both. Those two seemed to be attached by the hip.

“We never got the chance to talk about what that bartender said that night at the bar,” Seungwan says, probably hoping to sound casual. “Are you guys a thing now?”

“It’s not serious,” she says intently, mentally slapping her forehead for giving more than necessary information. “It’s not anything at all.”

There’s something in Seungwan’s expression that tells Joohyun she’s not being very convincing.

“Is this like that time it wasn’t serious at all with –”

“It’s nothing!” she insists, cutting Seungwan off before she can bring Donghyun to this.

Seulgi is nothing like him. She doesn’t deserve to be compared.

“Sooyoung doesn’t think so,” Seungwan comments. “She stalked your social media account, you know. Seulgi seems to like to comment on your pics a whole lot.”

“And how do you even know her name?”

“Have I not just said Sooyoung stalked your social media accounts?” her friend bashfully points out, like the thought of Sooyoung  _ stalking  _ her just to look for one simple information like this isn’t all that worrying.

“I wish you and Sooyoung would find something more interesting to talk about than my personal life.”

“Well,” Seungwan shrugs. Her smile has this tilting curve at the corners. “If you’d just stop having such a drama-filled one we wouldn’t.”

Joohyun rolls her eyes. “Shut up and drive.”

.

There’s someone sneaking out of Seulgi's apartment that afternoon.

Joohyun notices when she’s closing the door to her place, after taking a little too long in the shower to pick Leo up. There’s a blonde girl closing the door, looking ready to bolt, so Joohyun walks faster just to catch her.

“Hey,” she says, not really sure of why.

This girl is tiny – even compared to her – but she has that intimidating aura surrounding her that makes Joohyun sure she’d easily win in a fight.

(Why is she thinking of fighting this stranger who seems to be running away from Seulgi’s house like someone caught red handed? She’s not sure either.)

“Hi,” the girl replies, eyebrows furrowing. “Oh, you must be Joohyun. Seulgi’s super pretty neighbor.”

“Uh,” Joohyun stammers, trying not to linger on the thought that Seulgi refers to her as ‘super pretty neighbor’. Shouldn’t they be more than that now? “Yeah. That’s me. Who are you?”

“Yeri,” she answers, like that explains everything. “Wow, you look even prettier in person, I’ll give unnie that. She’s told me all about you, you know.”

Yeri eyes her head to toe – not judging, not approving. Joohyun has no idea what that look means.

Her heart feels like it’s going to start pounding with the information Yeri provides her but she can’t tell if it’s a good feeling or a bad feeling.

“Yeah?” she dumbly says. “What did she say about me?”

Yeri merely looks at her, dumbfounded, and yeah, maybe she was judging Joohyun now.

“You really are clueless, aren’t you? Both of you.” She shakes her head, amused. “Dumb idiots. Terribly stupid.”

“Hey!” Joohyun complains, but she doesn’t sound intimidating enough, apparently, because all Yeri does is roll her eyes and walk backwards towards the elevator.

“Look, it was nice to meet you but I’m late for class, so… bye!”

And then she leaves. Joohyun frowns. What the hell was that?

.

The door to Seulgi is open, so Joohyun takes advantage of it and lets herself in.

Something furry rubs at her legs as soon as she steps into the living room, and Joohyun kneels down to hold Leo in her arms. He meows, but doesn’t shy away.

“I missed you, little devil,” she says softly, like she didn’t just call him devil. Joohyun hugs him for a few more seconds, until it hits her that Seulgi hasn’t come to see her yet. She looks around, but it’s useless. The place seems empty. “Where’s Seul, Leo?”

The apartment is messy – messier than Joohyun had ever seen before. Leo hops off her arms, sits on the floor and merely looks back at her with his head tilted to the side. He meows again, and Joohyun starts to get worried.

Before her mind wanders off, though, a husky weak voice croaks out, somewhere down the hall of the apartment, “Who is it?”

“Seulgi? It’s me, I –”

“Hyunnie? Oh, I forgot you were coming back today. I’m so sorry,” Seulgi rambles.

Joohyun hears something moving, Seulgi grunting, until the sound of something falling is loud enough to startle her. 

Leo meows, running towards the sound quickly and Joohyun dutifully follows.

When they reach the bedroom, Seulgi’s there, sitting on the floor with the sheets tied to her legs. Her hair is tousled, her eyes puffy like she hasn’t had a good night sleep in days and her nose red.

Joohyun suddenly remembers how Seulgi hasn’t been answering her calls since two days ago, merely texting her back to say Leo was fine and so was she. Apparently, the latter was a lie.

She grins sheepishly, knows what she’s done and says, lifting her arms like a kid, “Can you help me?”

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Joohyun says, but helps her anyway.

“Maybe a little,” Seulgi cheekily agrees, falling onto the bed dramatically. “I’m sorry for not going to meet you at the door. I thought it was my sister.”

Oh. Sister. Yeah, that makes sense – Joohyun does remember Seulgi saying she had a baby sister who was in college.

“Don’t apologize,” she pleads. Unconsciously, her hand reaches out to touch Seulgi’s face and she sighs at how warm it is. She probably has a fever. “You should be resting.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Seulgi stubbornly says. “Yeri just came to bring me soup. But I don’t want it.”

Joohyun rolls her eyes. Of course she doesn’t.

“Then I’ll heat it up for you.” She moves to stand up, but Seulgi catches her by the hand quickly. She squeezes the hand, trying not to look desperate, and tips forward to lean her face against Joohyun's abdomen.

“Stay,” she asks, her voice throaty and eyes still closed, eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Can you stay?”

A beat later, and then Seulgi fingers are skittering across her hips in a soothing pattern. Joohyun’s heart hammers out a messy beat.

“Yeah,” Joohyun breathes. “Of course.”

Seulgi presses play on the TV, and they sit side by side, each one at an edge of the bed.

“You’re too far away,  _ unnie,” _ Seulgi whines.

“Some might call it personal space.”

“I hate whoever made up that word.” Seulgi pouts. “Come here.”

Seulgi pulls Joohyun closer to her until their bodies are touching from shoulders to toes. She’s always so warm, and it always feels nice so Joohyun closes her eyes to enjoy the feeling more.

And it’s pathetic, she realizes, because she just came back from a trip whose sole focus was for Joohyun to  _ convince  _ people. She’s good at it, she always gets what she wants in the end, after all. But as she snuggles closer to Seulgi in bed, she doesn’t feel the need to win this particular argument.

Maybe later, though, when Seulgi’s warmth isn’t pressed against her, maybe she’ll find the courage to get up and heat up Seulgi’s soup.

But Seulgi has a stupid, melodic rhythm to her breaths, like steady waves crashing onto a beach.

As they keep watching the movie Seulgi put on TV for them, and lies by her side, Joohyun easily notices how her eyelids seem heavy and how her head stumbles forward a bit from time to time. So she leans closer, and Seulgi is quick to take the cue to let her head fall on Joohyun's shoulder.

She shifts on the bed and watches Seulgi paying attention to whatever movie she put on the TV, her breathing a little uneven because of her cold and that stupid annoying habit of letting her mouth fall slightly open even before she falls asleep.

Joohyun complains about most of her habits, that’s a fact. So much it’s practically her habit to complain by now.

Seulgi snores, and though she can’t help it, Joohyun always teases her the next morning when they sleep together.

She takes too much space on the bed, snuggling closer and closer to Joohyun like she doesn’t care that her bed is  _ huge _ until most of it is empty and they’re pressed together at one of the edges.

She also chews with her mouth open and that’s the habit Joohyun can’t stand the most, but whenever she says something about it, Seulgi puffs her cheeks out, mouth full and eyes smiling. She says she won’t do it anymore, but of course she fails, and then Joohyun complains again and the whole cycle restarts.

Eventually, Seulgi ends up falling asleep, and as Joohyun listens to her faint snores, she belatedly realizes this is not casual at all.

.

And maybe it’s a sign. She’s sure it’s a fucking sign because as soon as she gets home on lunch hour, there’s no fur ball coming to greet her. 

Her place is very much empty, and Joohyun’s mind can’t help but reel back to the night before where Joohyun had told Leo she missed Seulgi. He had meowed and scratched the door, like he wanted to get out, but in the end, he came back to her lap and pushed his head on her chin like offering support.

See, Joohyun hasn’t talked to Seulgi at all these two weeks, and it’s not because she’s been avoiding her, not at all, but if she was, she’d be doing a great job. 

She had even told her friends about Seulgi, about what was happening between them, and for some reason, they weren’t surprised by the least when she said she might be developing feelings for the bartender. So it made her wonder.

Had it ever been casual? Sure, maybe in the beginning, when they were getting to know each other. But now months had gone by and Seulgi was the first person she thought of calling whenever something important happened, she was the first person Joohyun texted in the morning.

And even her fucking cat knows it. 

Not even bothering to call Seulgi, she strides through the hallway, determination getting the best of her. And it’s fine! It’s completely fine, she has it all under control and she can definitely power through!

Except that when the door finally opens, it’s the sight of Seulgi in a white crop top and tight jeans short that greets her. She has to suck in a breath as soon as their eyes meet. Joohyun doesn’t know how she can ever power through.

“Hey,” Seulgi says, leaning against the door frame as soon as she opens the door. Leo follows her, meowing at Joohyun like he’s  _ mad _ at her. “It’s been a while, right?”

Joohyun is not sure if she’s talking about the last time they’d seen each other or the last time Leo had sneaked out. Maybe both.

“Yeah, it has,” she echoes. “I’m sorry.”

_ For both,  _ she wants to say. She doesn’t.

“It’s fine, I missed this little guy.” Seulgi says, looking tenderly at the fur ball on Joohyun's legs.

Before her mouth catches up with her brain, Joohyun is already muttering, lips turned into a pout. “And what about me?”

Seulgi rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, yeah, I missed you too, Hyun.”

The building corridor is long and quiet, a bit eerie, tension filling the space between them heavily until Seulgi decides to break it.

“Do you, uh… do you want to come in? I was about to make some tea...”

Joohyun looks back at her apartment door down the hall, thinks about the amount of spreadsheets she has yet to finish.

“Yeah, that’d be fine. Great.”

Leo gets back in first, splashes his body on the floor and gets ready for a nap.

“What a fucking cheek,” Joohyun mutters, to which Seulgi promptly laughs.

“Leave him be,” she says, sauntering towards the kitchen.

Joohyun ends up lingering by Seulgi’s kitchen counter, trying to ignore how domestic it all feels.

“Honey?”

Joohyun raises her eyes, caught off guard. Her heart stammers a beat, and her breath hitches. Seulgi’s looking at her so intently, and suddenly all she can think to say is  _ yes, baby, what do you need? _

It makes her imagine how it would be like if she let herself fall again, ignore all her fears of bruises and heartbreak for this one woman and just let go.

Maybe there’s nothing wrong with giving another chance to love, after all, because really, this woman in front of her is all things sweet and gentle and all Joohyun can do is surrender to her without another single moment of hesitation.

The moment is broken once Seulgi awkwardly clears her throat, looks at Joohyun with a sheepish smile. “Do you want honey on your tea?”

Joohyun awkwardly clears her throat, hoping she’s not blushing despite how warm her face feels.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure.”

And if Seulgi notices the ferocious flush on Joohyun's cheeks, she doesn’t comment.

.

“We should get going,” Joohyun says later that night, regretfully, and stands up from her seat on the couch. “Leo and I, I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s getting late,” Seulgi agrees, rubbing her eye with her left hand. “You probably have work tomorrow. Sorry to keep you up until this early.”

Her eyes move to the clock above her TV, and Seulgi’s eyes snap open.

“Gosh, it’s almost 5 a.m. I’m so sorry, Hyunnie.”

Joohyun shakes her head. “No, don’t worry, I don’t have work tomorrow, it’s just that –”

And it hits her, albeit belatedly, how it’s four in the morning and she’s at Seulgi’s place still, having talked for almost four hours. They didn’t do anything, nothing at all, and Joohyun can only think how easily she’s gotten used to it.

She doesn’t get a chance to say what she means. Leo meows, imposing his presence and brushing his fur against Joohyun’s leg.

She tries to glare at him, and Leo hisses, bumping his head against her until he tries to claw up to her arms like he wants to say something.

“Is he – is he okay?” Seulgi asks, frowning.

“Yeah, he just –” Joohyun starts, and Leo meows again. She takes in a breath, ignoring the devil cat and staring at Seulgi. “I think we should stop.”

Taken aback, Seulgi gasps. “What?”

“This whole friend with benefits thing, I mean.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah,” Joohyun echoes. “I know we didn’t vocalize it, but it was obvious we were going to stop if one of us started to catch feelings, right?”

“Joohyun…”

Joohyun notices Seulgi is about to apologize, and her cheeks spread wide with a large grin. “So how about I take you up on that dinner date offer? Or is it too late?”

It’s not, Joohyun knows that. She might be slow to take on things, but she’s not dumb either. So when Seulgi lets out a huge intake of air, Joohyun giggles lightheartedly as she comes from behind the kitchen counter, and holds Joohyun by the waist.

“You scared me,” she says in a breathy voice, next to Joohyun's ears and bringing shivers down her spine.

Joohyun breathes in, closing her eyes as she holds Seulgi closer by the nape. 

“That’s good, it means you feel the same. Don’t you?” She caresses her ear, bringing their faces together.

“I do.”

“It won’t be easy, you know,” Joohyun feels the need to add, embarrassed how her confident tone from before now sounds like a soft whisper. “I have many flaws.”

It doesn’t sound like she’s trying to convince Seulgi to give up, and the bartender smiles. “I have, too.”

“I swear a lot.”

“I’m well aware.”

“I get mean when I’m angry,” Joohyun adds, and Seulgi giggles.

“I know. You almost teared my head off more than once. And you barely talked to me for days.” Seulgi’s breath quivers, but her determination doesn’t waver. “I’m willing to risk decapitation and willing to listen to you swearing for days straight if you feel like it. There’s nothing you can say to talk me out of it, I know you well enough.”

Joohyun's laugh is breathier than usual, relaxed. It’s true. Seulgi does know her, and somehow, she hasn’t run away yet. So does Joohyun. She knows most things there is to know about Seulgi, knows how annoying she gets when she doesn’t get what she wants, and yet –

She wants to take the leap.

Seulgi moves closer and Joohyun can feel her lips close to her yet not touching, can almost  _ taste _ a kiss, but –

_ Meow! _

Joohyun groans, forehead resting against Seulgi’s as she eyes the black fur ball. “God, I can’t believe he chose right now to be jealous. Fucking cockblocker.”

Seulgi’s laugh tingles against her face and she turns her head back, feeling Seulgi’s thumb running lightly along her skin, and is met with hooded eyes and a soft smile.

“You’re really such a potty mouth. Can’t believe you.”

“So do me a favor,” Joohyun whispers, placing a feather-light kiss on her jaw. “And shut me up?”

Seulgi doesn’t think as she leans forward, lips pressing to Joohyun’s. The tension in her shoulders dissipates the moment their lips meet, and she feels Seulgi smile against her mouth, hand moving to the back of her neck to pull her closer.

The devilish fur ball settles on their feet, and Seulgi breaks the kiss to rest the side of her head against Joohyun’s, eyes closed and lips curled into a goofy smile. Joohyun's smile is probably just as goofy, if not more, but she can’t bother to care.

.

The door slams shut with a bang when Joohyun pushes it and Seulgi holds her against it by the waist as soon as it does. 

Joohyun isn’t entirely sure how it gets better when they’ve done it so many times before. There’s the familiar, sure, but it feels like a completely different experience when Seulgi pins her down the bed, brings her up by the back of her neck.

She happily complies, lets her lips move gently against Seulgi’s, and all she can think about, all she knows in this moment, is Seulgi.

And her astonishingly soft lips.

And the way her mouth trails down a path to Joohyun’s neck, or the way her lips tug up to a smirk when Joohyun changes their position, sits on Seulgi’s lap, legs open on each side of her body and a finger pressing her back onto the bed, and says, “No. I want to ride you first.”

Seulgi gasps, jaw clenched tight. Her cheeks are flushed and Joohyun can’t help but lean down for a kiss.

“Okay,” Seulgi whispers against her lips, sinks her fingers in Joohyun as she marks a promise against her skin.

.

For the first time in a while, Joohyun has a dreamless, full night sleep.

.

_ Meow! _

Joohyun groans, opening her eyes slowly as the sunlight enters through Seulgi’s bedroom window, a sudden weight jumping on her hips.

“It’s too early, Leo,” she complains, only peering one eye open to watch him. He meows again, looks at Seulgi then at Joohyun as if he knows. “You’re right, I got the girl in the end.” He meows again, louder this time, like the answer pleased him. “Now shhh, Seulgi needs to sleep.”

No need to be told twice, Leo jumps back to the floor, and Joohyun snuggles closer to her now  _ girlfriend. _

“I assume he’s not jealous anymore?” Seulgi says, voice husky from sleep. Joohyun smiles.

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

“That’s good,” Seulgi mumbles, moving closer to Joohyun like it had any space left.

“You know, if this whole thing doesn’t work out Leo will pester you even more than he already does.”

“Are you claiming to be his favorite now?”

Joohyun shrugs, although Seulgi cannot see her with her eyes still closed. “Maybe.”

“Good,” Seulgi says and she rustles her face against the pillow, voice muffled by the sheets. “You’re my favorite, too.”

Seulgi throws a leg over Joohyun and Joohyun snuggles herself closer, hands wrapped around her waist like she wouldn’t ever dare to let go again. She drifts off again to the calming rhythm of Seulgi’s steady heartbeat and another distant  _ meow! _

  
  
  
  



End file.
